Sean, Minister of KtSP's page

Why are you awake in the middle of the night, James?

I think I caught all typos before it went out. Did multiple drafts and had my wife proofread each time.

But I too am second guessing myself, and conceiving all kinds of ways I could have written it better.

Pins and needles.

I want my copy of Skinsaw Murders!!!!

I'm prettier! I deserve it!

Sorry, friend. You're too late.

The rules were posted in the Paizo blog, but the open call submission deadline was two days ago. Is closed now.

...those stupid stick-figure family stickers with names that people put on the backs of their SUVs? 'Cuz guess what? Now I know the names, number and gender of all of your children, and usually your names and the names of your cat and/or dog, too. And I can probably find your address with your license plate number pretty easily, if I don't just follow you home.

"Hi, Tina. I'm a friend of your mom, Kathleen. She asked me to pick you up from school, because she had to take Fluffy to the vet. Get in the car, and we'll go pick up your brohters, Tommy and Billy."

It's pretty much begging someone to snatch your child.

Sorry I've let the game stall out a little bit guys. The Halloween install is over, and I should be around and functioning mentally a lot more often. I'll add a post soon, with the results of Rend's efforts.

I have some thoughts on your post, Superfly, but it'll have to wait until morning. Time for bed for me.

(Just trying to see Superfly's missing post)

Edit: There it is!

In SR4, the game has definately lost its 80's cyberpunk flair, but this new 'cybertech' style is nice, too. I'm even starting to play it after hating on the changes for a good 2 years. My campaign (Chronicles of the A-Team) will remain SR3 until it ends...But the sequel will be SR4.

Huh. Even more than the rule changes for SR4 (which I loved right off the bat), I was SO GLAD to see the desperately needed fluff changes.

I mean, when it got to the point that (despite the "megapulse" handwaviness) I could go out and buy better, more compact technology today than much of the everyday tech in SR3's 2063, the fluff was waaaaaay overdue for some updating.

I hope they're not three real life people you have to deal with on any kind of regular basis, cuz EW!

"That's impossible, that's inside the room!"

I too will share my full query if I don't make the cut.

I too made the "Azurestone" the object that was stolen. Though about making the Red Raven an airship, but like Mothman, I rejected the idea.

And I wouldn't worry about double spacing, mwbeeler. The submission guidlines said nothing about double spacing (I think...!), so it shouldn't really count against us. I hope.

I'll admit that I'm a little curious myself as to the final number.

I think I'm a good writer, and that my query was strong, but I know for sure there are people whose brains I respect that have admitted to entering, so I have no illusions that I'll be sailing through to the finish line unopposed.

To take that to a new level: The wizard X lives in his tower at X, managed to steal item X from ruler of demiplane X, framing cult X in city X, etc. -- plain plot exposition. Maybe three pages.

Totally off topic, but this sentence read very oddly to me, thanks to too much algebra. Obviously the X's are various nouns, but all of them being Xs, they all read as the same noun to me.

An example, using the noun "Chicago" in place of the Xs:

The wizard Chicago lives in his tower at Chicago, managed to steal item Chicago from the ruler of demiplane Chicago, framing cult Chicago in city Chicago...

Yeah. Too much algebra.

Query sent.

789 words. Revising it was the hardest part. Good competition, everyone. May the best writer win.

Also, Mike, you recommended staying away from non-OGL monsters. One of my monster ideas involved reinventing a monster from real earth mythology, but a similar monster exists in one of the Monster Manuals, should I still stay away from it then? I know that other monsters and gods with similar circumstances have been reinvented for Pathfinder/Gamemastery, but I want to know how big this issue is. I've already started rethinking the query without the monster in question, but I wanted to be sure.

Can I ask what email address to expect notification from? I want to add it to my address book to make sure any (I hope) notification gets through my spam filter.

No worries, GG. I've had a similar infection once myself, and yes, it was terribly painful. Rest up and get better, please.

Also, I've been pretty busy with the Halloween install, and on my precious few moments trying to move our game forward and write my own query for Flight of the Red Raven.

No hiatus worries here. Saturday was a nice night off from lugging speakers up ladders and hanging them in hard to reach places. Today and tomorrow, we've got some final piddly stuff to finish up, and I'm using what time I have at home to fire off my own query for Flight of the Red Raven. I think it's good, but I'm betting I'll be up against some stiff competition. We'll see how it goes.

Generic whine about some particular version of D&D. Whichever version makes you the happiest to hear complaints about, or whichever version will rile you up most when complained about.

I have the ring. Let's ID it.

I'll throw in 20gp, the rest of you would need to toss 16 gp each my way to cover the identify cost.

Done.

Name ideas:

The Shock Squad
The Buzzcocks
The Eldin Farstrider Experience, Featuring Anders Delymbir

I loved the new puzzle. It was like a cross between the first puzzle of Savage Tide and the first puzzle of Age of Worms. My AoW PbP is in that part of the Whispering Cairn right now, so it was quite amusing timing.

Sounds perfectly in character to me.

If I can find time to kick out 800 words in the next couple of days, you bet I'm entering.

Also guys, I apologize if I'm not posting very much right now. I'm right in the middle of installing the sound system on the mazes for Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, and we've hit the real crunch days. I should be around to post more after tonight, but I wanted to let you all know what was going on.

Sorry I'm not around much right now, guys. I'm right in the middle of installing the sound systems on the mazes for Universal Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights, and we've hit the crunch days, though I should be around to post a little more often after tonight.

If Anders needs to be NPC-ed: he seems to have come down with a head cold or something, so today he's kind of shuffling after the party in a bit of a daze, and not his usual witty and clever (if a little dark) self.

Also: thanks, James!

I was pretty sure it was 800 words total, but I also wanted to be sure I wasn't horribly shorting myself on word count.

Mike, Jason or Jeremy:

Here is what we need from you. Send us a Word document (or RTF document) and answer the

following five questions in no more than 800 words:

Is that 800 words per question, or 800 words total for the submission?

I love Falling Down. When I first saw it, I thought it was hilarious. Now, with maturity, I no longer find it funny, but I do find it very sad and moving (and I put it in the "could happen" category, too).

Does this mean that the players shouldn't have access to these books, even if they spent their hard-earned cash to buy them? Well...that's the question.

This is another house rule I'm very fond of:

I don't care how much money you spent on a splat book, if I as the DM don't have a copy, you can't use it, plain and simple. If you want to spend your hard earned cash on books I don't have (as the DM), and you want to use them at the table, buy a copy for me too. Also, even if I do have a copy, if I think a rule or even a whole book is broken, it's not allowed. I don't care if you spent your life savings on it.

And if he wants to stay current, he needs to do a Scientology comic.

I thought I'd seen one at one point, but I don't have time to go digging through the archives for it.

As to the original topic, Fakey, you have my sympathies. When I ran the AoW in my RL game, I was overly generous with stat generation, and unrestrictive with splatbooks. And I allowed open magic item purchase and enhancement as the game went on.

My players pretty much walked through just about every encounter they faced, through Kings of the Rift, and chunks of Into the Wormcrawl Fissure (neither Brazzemal nor Dragotha stood a chance).

They did start to feel it for Dawn of a New Age, though. I made it clear that they were on a clock once they hit Alhaster, so there was no stopping and resting for a day once they entered the city. The broodfiends really gave them a tough time, and while they were able to walk through

sanctum easily (though they missed some important stuff), when they finally assulted the new Spire of Long Shadows, they went straight for the top, without really stealthing themselves up at all, so they pretty much activated the entire tower. If you have a copy of Dawn of a New Age, go check out how many monsters and bad guys are included in that location. So they not only had to fight Kyuss, they had to do it while facing off against , Marilee, Hemriss, a bunch of shadowdancer vampires, some Blessed Angels, a bunch of Kyuss Knights, a few broodfiends, and you-know-who's pet balor (one of the things they missed in the sanctum).

Sure, if the team had been facing any one of those creatures individually, they would have gone down like chumps. But this fight was pretty spectacular, several PCs went down at one point or another, and even with all the resources they had at their disposal, until the very end it was not at all clear that they were going to pull that one out and save the world.

Also, you-know-who was much badder than either Brazzemal or Dragotha. Or even Kyuss, really.

Unless they are making a touch attack of some kind to hit with the fireball (or any spell, really), I would never allow that.

Also, since I'm not playing in Ebooron, no magic shop ever carries major magic items. What person would ever create such an item and then sell it? No person, that's who. Major magic items can only come into the player's hands if a) they find it in a treasure hoard, b) they (or someone in the party) makes it themselves, or c) they pay someone else to make it for them.

And with c), I strictly enforce item creation times.

I learned the hard way from the AoWAP that you just cannot allow players to flip through any book they want and purchase magic items.

I don't care if it's "built into the system now" (something I disagree with -- the city info that includes GP value limits is also in the DMG, and that info should never be "player's eyes" stuff). In the core books, magic items are in the DMG. They are the exclusive domain of the DM. Yes, there are magic items in most of the available splat books, but there is nothing about the splat books that says everything in them is for players, and since magic items are DMG only for core, I consider the magic item chapters of splat books to be DMs only, too.

I'm not totally heartless -- there are occasionally magic item shoppes in towns, but they have what I say they have in stock. These shops have limited stock, and I usually randomize what's available, but most importantly, these shops take time to restock, so that unless you're waiting two months or more between visits, day to day these shops are still carrying the same items they were carrying the day before, minus what your PCs purchased already. I'm sorry, but unless you're playing in Ebooron, there just aren't a bunch of magic item factories churning out magic items in such large quantities that every "magic shop" can stock every magic item in every book all the time.

I always get confused when I go to LA, because they talk about the South Bay there too, but I think they mean Long Beach or Orange County or something.

Yes, here in LA, "South Bay" means "Long Beach."

BTW, is this Jack Chick stuff all from the 1980s, or is he still going strong?

Still going strong. Their website is current, and there's plenty of new tracts available on the site.

And oh yes, Chick has anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic tracts.

While there was a time (before the rules evolved) I would have happily been vocal in my WoD hate on, that was a while ago, and I am in no position to criticize the rules as they stand now, as I have no idea what they are.

I have been somewhat interested in checking them out in their current states, but I only have so much cash for gaming supplies, and that all goes to d20 stuff these days. Technically, that would include Monte's WoD book, and I may yet have to pick that up, but the gaming kitty is empty at the moment.

Also, see the play thread.

You ever notice how many people just "Hate on" D&D? The whole 4th edition thing is making even more of a target. You almost never hear of Shadowrun Haters or WOD Haters. Savage Tales Haters, I never met one. Warhammer Haters are rare. It goes further, Magic Haters are out there but don't focus on the anger. Now World Of Warcraft has some serious hate brewing. While other games like Zelda have no Haters.

If you are a Hater tell me why.

Oh I can't stand WoD, and know lots of other people who feel the same.

The mechanics are nonsensical and useless -- all flavor and no crunch (caveat: I have no idea what the mechanics are like these days, or how much they've changed from their first incarnation). Plus, everybody I knew (back when I actually played it) who played V:tM were all the annoying, angsty Rice vampire wannabes. Who wants to spend time with that. So over the "being a vampire would be cool" thing.

Also, while I love Shadowrun, and have played since the beginning, I have always had a hate on for the rules (at least until SR4, which solves pretty much all the problems I've ever had with the system).

[dawn breaks over marble head]

AHA! Now I just have to figure out how to figure it out in character.

Okay, I love Rend. He's a great character. Actually you've all created some of my favorite PCs ever, but I had to comment on Rend, due to his flopping down in the middle of the dias. I laughed out loud.

I hope I'm not frustrating you the player, Jon. I don't think so, but if I am, fear not, there's lots of great stuff coming.

I'm making the climate of Sandpoint rather akin to the California coast, between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Summers and winters are typically mild, and the area has generally idyllic weather year round -- warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter, but otherwise usually pretty comfortable.

Sean, Minister of KtSP wrote:

Except that once you do that, all the people who have picked an ice cream flavor get very upset with you and try to physically force you to eat some ice cream, preferably the flavor they like.

I understand what you are saying. I hope that I am not coming across as trying "to physically force you" towards my thinking. My point is really why Christians believe the way they do -- I'm not trying to force issues of what's "right" or "wrong".

No, nobody in this thread is trying physically force me to be a Christian. Few people in the real world are either. It's an analogy, and the physical forcing is metaphorical, so it's a metaphorical physicality.

Like all analogies it breaks down when poked to hard or taken too literally. It's merely meant to illustrate a philosophical problem for me, particularly in regards to the insistence of matters of faith as "fact."

Moff Rimmer wrote:

So, if I am understanding this right, your idea of a deity is like that mountain over there. Big and grand, but doesn't really do anything and doesn't really care what you do either.

Yup. Except said deity is also the pebble, and also my fingernail, and also the galaxy. So, it's not really much of a deity really, it's mostly just that I acknowledge that existence exists independent of myself.

And, seeing as how I am the center of the universe, I think you can appreciate how much it means for me to say that. ;-)

This is more or less my concept of God, too. "God" is, to me, synonymous with "everything."

You have in your mind some concept of God. Match it up with other religions. How does it match up?

Actually, I'd say it matches up very closely with your concept of God, I think. We've both matched our concept of God up to many of the religions of the world, and found those religions wanting.

The only difference between you and me is that after looking at most of the main religions, I have decided that they all offer glimpses of whatever true divine there may be, but that none of them are complete and exact enough for me to consider following them.

You think one of them has the right of it, where all the others do not.

I worry the following analogy will come across as offensive, but it's really not meant to be:

We talked earlier about ice cream, and arguing over religion being like arguing over a favorite flavor. And we used chocolate and vanilla as the flavors.

Well, to me, the religion thing is more like you and I have walked into a wonderous fantasy ice cream parlor, that smells delicious. The only problem is that instead of chocolate and vanilla, all of the flavors are things like "dog poop and peach ambrosia," or "ground glass and mint chocolate chip," or "fine dark chocolate with fresh berries and rancid whale puke."

I look at all the flavors -- they all have some of my favorite flavors, and it's clear the ingredients are of the finest possible quality, but they all come with something vile -- and I say "No thanks.". To me, it really seems like devoutly religious people have picked one, say the dog poop and peach ambrosia, and tasted it, and said "Wow! The dog poop realy brings out the deliciousness of the peach ambrosia, and is therefore not intolerable."

Meanwhile, I'm left looking at those people saying "Yeah, okay, whatever, I think I'm going to pass on the ice cream."

Except that once you do that, all the people who have picked an ice cream flavor get very upset with you and try to physically force you to eat some ice cream, preferably the flavor they like.